In a moonless night of september, 1917, 10,000 Italian troops broke the austro-hungarian front in the sleepy Valsugana Sector.
Waiting their turn were other 30,000 troops, with armored cars, 400 trucks, 8 Bersaglieri Ciclisti Battalions, two full divisions commanded by Arditi generals Ottavio Zoppi and Guido Viora.
The enemy underofficiers and soldiers were sedated by drugged aqua vitae, and the officers helped the Italians, serving as guides. The artillery was 100 to 56 in Italian's favor. Italian Artillerymen also knew the _EXACT_ position of the Austrian cannons.
The Power plant that provides electricity to the barbed wire was sabotaged, and the Italian maps were exact in every detail, provided by the same Slavs officers who helped them, in order to accelerate the fall of the Dual Monarchy.
The whole Austrian Trentino was emptying: the troops were needed on the Isonzo front, to support the Caporetto Offensive, planned for the next month.
The cannons of Trento and Bolzano were on Asiago Plateau.
Defending the line were 4,000 Austrian troops, of average quality.
The task of defending Trento, located only 20 km from Carzano, was on the aging shoulders of 7,000 territorials.
In half a day, Italian troops could astonish the world capturing Trento, cutting the Adige Valley, Encircling all the enemy soldiers on the Asiago Front.
An Austro-Hungarian Caporetto.
The next day, Bolzano falls: her cannons are false, only to deceive aerial reconnaissance.
Italian Advance will stop at the Brennero pass.
The spearhead was manned by Arditi troops of the fourth Bersaglieri Brigade. Their commander was a young captain, doomed to a glorious death in Russia in 1942: The Commander of the Third Bersaglieri Regiment, the 10-times decorated Colonel Aminto Caretto. His last was a Gold Medal.
The Third and Sixth Bersaglieri took two gold medals apiece for The Russian Campaign 1941-42.
Back to Carzano.
Historically, things did not go this way.
An over-cautios Italian general suspended the operation at the first Austrian artillery shell, SIX hours after the beginning of the "Carzano Dream".
He was demoted, of course. But the chance was over.
The following month, Rommel broke the Italian front at Caporetto.
What if Carzano succeded?
No Mutilated Victory. No Caporetto. No Piave River Epic. Austria Surrenders in November or December 1917. Germany, left alone, follows soon.
No enormous American Armies in France. No Fiume occupation by D'Annunzio.
And then?
The King of Italy does not refuse to sign the Martial Law to stop the Fascist's Marcia su Roma. No Fascism in Italy.
What do you think?
My novel is not translated in English (YET).
If you understand Italian, you can order it on lulu:
http://www.lulu.com/content/1125733
You find an introduction and the first pages of the book.
See Ya!
Fabio